Documentary focusing on the bit-part actors and extras from the original 1977 Star Wars movie.

Elstree 1976 is not just a documentary about Star Wars; in fact, it’s not even really about Star Wars at all but a vindication that, in these enlightened times, the culture that has erected itself from George Lucas’ vision has become bigger than the source itself. Think about it – what other movie franchise could boast about or even justify inspiring a documentary focusing on the background players, some of whom didn’t even have a line or, in one case at least, his character didn’t even appear in the final cut of the movie? Bond? Harry Potter? The Lord of the Rings? Don’t think so.

If you always thought that actor Peter Mayhew was roaring and howling without rhythm or reason on the set of the Star Wars movies, you wouldn't be the only one. But as it turns out, Chewbacca actually had his very own dialogue, which was delivered to the other actors on set. Two new beind-the-scenes clips featuring the original dialogue track have surfaced, which show off some of Peter Mayhew's lines in actual English. And it's pretty amazing.

There's a perfectly reasonable explanation now as to how Han Solo actor Harrison Ford always seemed to perfectly understand the Shyriiwook language spoken by Chewbacca. That is the native tongue of the Wookie, and for years, many fans believed it was a dialect that Peter Mayhew had somehow perfected. As it turns out, this unique sounding way of communicating was all created in post-production. But Peter Mayhew isn't disappoint that the illusion has been ruined for some.
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In this edition of Star Wars Bits: David Prowse is retiring from the international convention circuit. The designer behind many of Star Wars‘ iconic ships shares some trivia. Star Wars Uprising is shutting down after a little over a year. An interview with the authors of that new Ralph McQuarrie art book… …and a look […]

I was back in downtown Cincinnati for the third time this year and the Cincy Comic Expo keeps getting bigger and better! We had Stan Lee, bitches! Stan’s line was nearly four hours long and kept growing. It was pretty nuts. I had the Jimmy Olsen to my Clark Kent, my buddy Steve with me this year, and there was so much to see and do. Seriously, the venue seemed to expand and add even more areas to explore, more places to sit and more cool things to look at than ever before. It just keeps growing. Before we even entered the building, we found two energetic chaps frothing at the mouth to get the Cincy Comic Expo exclusives this year – we had exclusive comics!

Okay, celebrities! It’s so hard to get a celeb, a true legit celeb to a comic con but this year,
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When it comes to the original 1977 Star Wars, which was only retitled A New Hope in the years after its theatrical debut, Darth Vader was in his prime as a villain. And it was the first time audiences were introduced to the Sith Lord and the dark side of the force. The heavy breathing and black armor all return this Christmas in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and it promises to give us a transformed Anakin Skywalker at the height of his dangerous powers. In the past few weeks, it has been confirmed that Vader will be a key figure in the Rogue One plot. But what, exactly, is his role in the movie?

This week's issue of EW features a Rogue One cover story, and in it, we get to learn just that. We know from previous rumors that this version of Darth Vader is screen accurate to
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David Prowse may be credited with lending his physical appearance to the role of Darth Vader across the original Star Wars trilogy, but without James Earl Jones’ booming and iconic voice, that signature sense of gravitas would be lost to the stars.

Thankfully, Entertainment Weekly brings word today that Earl Jones will indeed return to voice the galaxy’s biggest menace in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with a handful of young actors donning the famous suit to bring the character to life on screen. Just don’t expect ol’ Vader to own much screentime in Gareth Edwards’ hotly-anticipated spinoff.

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That’s because, as we learned yesterday, it is Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Orson Krennic that stands as the chief villain in Rogue One. “He [Vader] will be in the movie sparingly,” Kathleen Kennedy told EW. “But at a key, strategic moment, he’s going to loom large.
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We are less than six months out from the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and all has been quiet on the news front. A little too quiet. Other than some of the actors dodging questions during interviews like it’s their job — except Mads Mikkelsen who just throws caution to the wind — we’re as in the dark as we were when the trailer dropped.
Until Now!
This morning EW released a round-up of what to expect from their Rogue One issue this week. They tease everything from the names of the new Imperial vehicles to more information about Jyn Erso’s father, but there’s one important character that is finally confirmed to be appearing: Darth Vader.
Finally, confirmation of what fans have hoped ever since the project was announced: Vader is back. We have a run-down of the Sith lord’s first day on set,
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Today just so happens to be Father's Day. It is a day that is meant to honor all dads, even the potentially very flawed ones, like Darth Vader, for example. Being that it is Father's Day and Vader, for what it is worth, is one of the most famous movie dads of all time, Dave Prowse, who played Vader in the costume in Star Wars, decided to send out a Tweet about the holiday. The resulting exchange was priceless.

Prowse took to Twitter this morning bright and early to wish his followers a Happy Father's Day. He also slipped in the hash tag #IAmYourFather, being that it is one of the most famous, and misquoted movie lines of all time and it definitely fits the theme of the day. This could have just been a simple, sweet gesture from a member of the Star Wars universe, but this is Twitter
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Peter Cushing, born on this day in 1913, was one of the most respected and important actors in the horror and fantasy film genres. To his many fans, the British star, who died in 1994, was known as ‘The Gentle Man of Horror’ and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950’s, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. A topnotch actor who was able to deliver superb performances on a consistent basis, Peter Cushing also had range. He could play both the hero and the villain with ease.

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Peter Cushing’s ten best roles:

Dr. Maitland

During the 1960s, Amicus Studios had a knack for borrowing from the pool of Hammer Studios actors and filmmakers to make their own Hammer-inspired films. While
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Everybody knows Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher. When Disney bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas and announced they’d be producing a new Star Wars trilogy and spin-off features, everyone knew those three would be back in the fold. Even guys like Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker were known commodities to consult if not star underneath the costumes they made famous. But what of the other actors — the nameless, sometimes faceless, and almost always uncredited performers who were a part of something so universally revered? Does their being extras mean they weren’t as important to the legend? Fans lining up for autographs don’t think so. Anyone on set and immortalized in one of history’s greatest cinematic franchises is an unequivocal hero.

To people like me who love the series but never rendered it into a cornerstone of daily life, however, these smaller, hidden roles prove an intriguing curio.
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When I heard about Cinelicious Pics’ plans to restore and release the long lost 1973 anime Belladonna Of Sadness, I was well and truly excited. I’m a huge aficionado of 70s-era anime, and this baby has been a “holy grail” of sorts for folks like me for a good many years — much desired but damn near impossible to obtain. So that being said, and with those expectations set freakin’ sky high, let’s see if ol’ Belladonna was worth the wait or will it just fill me with sadness of my own!

Belladonna Of Sadness, based loosely (and by that I mean hardly at all) on the French novel La Sorcière by Jules Michelet, tells the brutal tale of Jeanne,
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Not every movie -- not even every good movie -- is worth an immediate Blu-ray investment, but you're going to want to clear a sexy spot in your house for Ryan Reynolds's "Deadpool." The top R-rated movie around the world is out on DVD and Blu-ray May 10. We could list the Blu-ray features, but it's much more fun to get them from the Merc with a Mouth himself:

Hopefully you made the most of May the 4th! We did not get a new title for Episode VIII: Space Bear, so I’m a little disappointed. This is what happens when you set expectations for yourself based on what you want instead of any actionable information: disappointment.

There was some new info dumps via licensed products that seemed interesting. First off, as much as I wanted to take an evening speed reading Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline, I made the decision to wait for reviews before reading it at a casual pace. Thankfully, the internet, so I know some stuff about how it intersects with the rest of the canon. From what I gather, Ben Solo and Luke are off training, but it’s vague as to where or what they are doing. There’s no mention of Snoke. Chewbacca is living with his family on Kashyyyk with his family,
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Kylo Ren is so 2015.
Kids (including the adult kind), I regret to inform you that Darth Vader didn’t really die. He’s an 80-year-old white guy living in England, and when official “Star Wars” trilogy conventions started, he said, “I’d like to be able to cash in on this.”
According to “Elstree 1976,” David Prowse — who wore the Dark Lord’s costume on camera — unfortunately got a touch too enthusiastic in claiming the role at such events, despite the fact that he neither voiced Vader nor was the face that was revealed when Vader’s mask was ultimately taken off.
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The fact that the documentary doesn’t mention Star Wars in the title is a telling indication of the kind of film Jon Spira has made. With the focus on the people behind the masks and costumes, Spira deliberately has focused his lens on the lives of these actors and not the characters that they became famous for. Fans of Star Wars might be disappointed by this decision, but the result is a film that is more thoughtful than just another look at the legacy of the iconic series.

Minor characters and some that really aren’t even considered characters (sorry, stormtrooper who knocked his noggin against a blast door) step into the spotlight in Elstree 1976. While some of these actors or actresses may not mean much to the casual Star Wars filmgoer, the super fans will delight in watching the guy who play Greedo, the former bodybuilder who
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We've heard the rumor quite a bit over the last year and a half, ever since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story started shooting in 2015. Now we have verification that yes, Darth Vader is in this first spinoff movie. And his appearance should make fans quite happy, as he has been recreated to perfectly match the Sith Lord we saw in the original 1977 classic A New Hope. This standalone adventure will also answer one big question that has plagued some fans ever since Darth Vader made his return in Empire Strikes Back.

The folks over at Making Star Wars have a pretty good track record when it comes to delivering Star Wars scoops and spoilers that actually turn out to be true. This time, they have seen photos of Darth Vader from Rogue One. These images show the former Jedi posing in his iconic black armor and mask. They were
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Here’s the latest episode of the 365Flick podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on Podomatic and Libsyn, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

365Flicks Podcast – Episode 37: Flashback Time…

So the lads have completely run out of ideas and decided it was time to bring you the dreaded FlashBack episode. Nah Kev has gone on holiday so before he went the boys got together to record a sort of look back at the last 16 months. We start with the present and bring you some trailer talk for the latest trailers they wanted to speak about. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange. What follows after that is the interviews the lads have been lucky enough to get since they started attending Comic Cons.
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Ed Mason, who ran the film fairs at Westminster Central
Hall for over 18 years has suddenly died, leaving behind him an enormous legacy
with the film fairs and the shop he had on King’s Road in London for a great
many years.

Being part of the film fairs since they started
back in September 1973, he was responsible for introducing the now-highly
collectable Belgian posters with their great art work to the UK, and kept the
world of original film memorabilia going all through his life. Ed was also responsible
for bringing over the best poster and stills dealers from Europe and America to
his London collector fairs, which also influenced the opening of many cinema shops
both in London and around the country.

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